Programme
This is the full programme of sessions at the Battle of Ideas 2016 festival on 22 & 23 October. You can refine this list by day, check out strands of debates or refine the list by theme.
10.00-17.00 Saturday 22 October
Lutz driverless pod
Level G9.30-9.50 Saturday 22 October
Battle of Ideas 2016 Welcome Address
Free Stage10.00-11.30 Saturday 22 October
The new populism
Cinema 1The moral case for abortion
Pit TheatreCan America be great again?
Cinema 3Did Cathy come home? Homelessness today
Frobisher 1-3Generational inequality: who should pay for the future?
Frobisher Auditorium 2Big Data: does size matter?
Frobisher Auditorium 1Law and democracy
Frobisher 4-6Cultural appropriation: homage or theft?
ConservatoryAfter the Referendum: Britain divided?
Garden Room12.00-13.15 Saturday 22 October
Feminism: in conversation with Camille Paglia
Cinema 112.00-13.00 Saturday 22 October
The new Ireland: new moral state?
Pit TheatreBye, bye Barack: the worst president ever?
Cinema 3Zaha Hadid: her life and legacy
Frobisher 1-3What should post-millennials know?
Frobisher Auditorium 2Can biotechnology conquer ageing?
Frobisher Auditorium 1The busybody state
Frobisher 4-6Who owns jazz?
ConservatoryDo we need a common tongue? Languages and integration
Garden Room13.10-13.50 Saturday 22 October
A brief history of gravitational waves
Frobisher Auditorium 1How to look at a painting
Frobisher 4-6Saturday Lunchtime Jazz
Free Stage13.30-15.30 Saturday 22 October
Every Cook Can Govern
Cinema 213.45-15.00 Saturday 22 October
The great inequality debate: are the super-rich heroes or villains?
Cinema 114.00-15.30 Saturday 22 October
Does Britain have a gambling problem?
Pit TheatreAre political parties over?
Garden RoomTrump: the rise of The Donald
Cinema 3History Wars
Barbican LibraryAre the millennials revolting?
Frobisher Auditorium 2Blockchain: what's all the fuss about?
Frobisher Auditorium 1Is brutalism back?
Frobisher 1-3Can neuroparenting save the family?
Frobisher 4-6From Bowie to Bieber: what makes a music icon?
Conservatory16.00-17.15 Saturday 22 October
From hate speech to cyber-bullying: is social media too toxic?
Cinema 2Bodily autonomy: my body, my choice?
Pit TheatreFrom Black Panthers to #blacklivesmatter: race in America
Cinema 3China’s Urban Revolution
Frobisher 1-3Young people and mental illness: a growing problem?
Frobisher Auditorium 2Genome editing: should we change the building blocks of life?
Frobisher Auditorium 1Schools and social mobility: a grammatical error?
Frobisher 4-6Balloon debate: what's the best ever box-set?
ConservatoryHow will we feed Britain after Brexit?
Garden RoomCreepy Clowns: Horror, social media and urban myth
Free Stage17.30-18.45 Saturday 22 October
Anti-Semitism revisited
Pit TheatreIs London over?
Frobisher 1-3Rough Trade at 40: Nostalgia or a new counterculture?
Club StageIs the future nuclear?
Frobisher Auditorium 1Are young people scared of sex?
Frobisher Auditorium 2Real-life Archers: policing and domestic violence
Frobisher 4-6Immigration: what is the future of free movement?
Garden RoomBookshop Barnie: Hillary Rising with James D Boys
Free Stage17.30-19.00 Saturday 22 October
Architecture Tour
TOUR DEPARTS FROM LEVEL G, TICKET INFORMATION DESK18.45-21.00 Saturday 22 October
Festival reception and drinks
Conservatory, Conservatory Terrace and Garden Room10.00-11.30 Sunday 23 October
Who are we? Identity politics dissected
Cinema 1The fall of the technocratic experts
Pit TheatreComedy and censorship: are you kidding me?
Cinema 2Thomas More's Utopia
ConservatoryFrom snobbery to slobbery: the erosion of formality in Britain
Cinema 3Teaching to the text: textbooks or technology?
Frobisher Auditorium 2Get real: where will virtual reality take us?
Frobisher Auditorium 1Britain’s infrastructure: the road to nowhere?
Garden RoomTurkey: is there hope for democracy?
Frobisher 1-3What is gender?
Frobisher 4-612.00-13.15 Sunday 23 October
What is the truth about 'post-factual politics'?
Cinema 112.00-13.00 Sunday 23 October
You're hired! Who wants to be an apprentice?
Pit TheatreDo we need a classical education for the 21st century?
ConservatorySoweto to #RhodesMustFall: the changing face of South African resistance
Frobisher 1-3Have we lost the art of conversation?
Cinema 3Driverless cars: who's in control?
Frobisher Auditorium 1Religious education in a secular age
Frobisher Auditorium 2The war on drugs: time for a truce?
Cinema 2'The past, we want no part of it': the legacy of Futurism
Garden RoomWhat's wrong with men's rights?
Frobisher 4-6Fake Sheikh: free speech and the ethics of media stings
Free Stage13.10-13.50 Sunday 23 October
How to understand statistics
Frobisher Auditorium 1Post-Socratic dialogue on love
Frobisher 4-6Podcasts: Past, Present, and Future
Free Stage14.00-15.00 Sunday 23 October
Ferrante furore: what’s the story?
Free Stage14.00-15.30 Sunday 23 October
What's God got to do with it?
Cinema 1Does the Eurozone have a future?
Pit TheatreWhy does Kierkegaard still matter?
ConservatoryEmpathy and sentimentality: the rise of virtue signalling
Cinema 3Why, robot? Can we teach AI to be ethical?
Frobisher Auditorium 1Skool rules: made to be broken?
Frobisher Auditorium 2What’s happened to the University? Lessons from America
Cinema 2Eastern Menace: a new European culture war?
Frobisher 1-3Utopia myopia: the future of cities
Garden RoomPeer-to-peer sexual abuse: myth or time bomb?
Frobisher 4-616.00-17.15 Sunday 23 October
Cosmopolitanism and sovereignty: what next for Europe?
Cinema 1René Descartes: I think, therefore I am
ConservatoryDeath and the meaning of life
Cinema 3Tax wars and inequality
Pit TheatreThe fintech revolution: will it break the bank?
Frobisher Auditorium 1Are schools producing Generation Snowflake?
Frobisher Auditorium 2Is doping ruining sport?
Cinema 2Humanity’s big challenge: water wars
Garden RoomCrumbling BRIC: what future for Brazil?
Frobisher 1-3Is masculinity toxic for boys?
Frobisher 4-617.30-18.45 Sunday 23 October
Decolonising education: is the curriculum 'too white'?
Frobisher Auditorium 2The UK economy after Brexit: sink or swim?
Pit TheatreDating apps: the end of romance?
Frobisher Auditorium 1Nihilism and terror: how political is the new jihadism?
Frobisher 1-3Is utopian thinking dead? Attitudes to the future
Garden RoomWomen’s trouble? The pay gap debate
Frobisher 4-618.45-20.30 Sunday 23 October
End of festival drinks
Conservatory 